Strands the most entrancing shade of rose
by xaArzie
Summary: Fllay is dead but she left Kira something to take care of. Lacus is literally driven mad by how much he loves them more than her. Her condition worsens and he never notices until she.... still thinking if I'll make it a happy ending R&R!
1. Can you help me?

hey guys it's xaArzie here. I've been locked in a tower in deep sleep for the past few months and even if that unexisting prince never came, I'm back anyway (waiting took too long :P) haha. Anyway...you might remember this story. It used to be named "her Hair was pink" but it bombed. How am I so sure? Because u guys didnt review. Remember, I only update if there are enough reviews to say I should, so if you like it, pls just even swing by to say "update" and I will... Ciao

* * *

The sky outside was gloomy and gray. It was cold and quiet. It was a dismal day when no seemed top have the nor the will to do anything. On a perfectly boring day such as this one a sharp rap on the door was heard throughout the Attha-Zala home. The housemaid answered the door.

"hello, miss. Please come in. The representative and her husband are in their room. Let me call them." The elderly woman said in a European accent before she smiled at the young visitor then left.

The visitor settled herself in the living room and sat quietly with her head hung.

"Hello Lacus!" greeted a familiar voice. The songstress looked up to se it her old friend and ex-fiancé, Athrun Zala, with his wife tagging right behind him.

'They've been much better off since the war' Lacus thought to herself. 'I think he's managed to smoothen her out a little' As she thought this, Cagalli gave the blue haired coordinator a playful punch in the arm. '…but not entirely. She's still our Cagalli.' The songstress quickly followed up.

"It's been a while. Is there any special reason you've decided to pay us a visit? How's Kira? Is he alright?" Cagalli said, turning her attention to their guest.

"Oh! No, no. he's fine…" Lacus shook her head. "…I think…"

"What's the matter then?" the only guy in the room asked.

Lacus hesitated but after remembering how desperate she was, she just blurted it all out.

"Can you help me? Please? …but don't tell Kira."

"What? Why? What's wrong?" Athrun suddenly shot up, well aware that the mood had changed.

"I think Kira's cheating on me."

"WHAT?!" Athrun looked taken aback. "Kira? Our Kira? Impossible. He's not the type. Besides, I thought you guys were planning to get engaged soon?"

With tears in her eyes already, Lacus replied. "It seemed that way for a while, but he never really mentioned anything about it. And now, now he goes out for an entire day and refuses to tell me where he's going. Then he either comes home very happy or really disappointed."

"H-how long has this been going on?"

"It used to be just once a week, now it's more often, almost everyday."

Athrun and Cagalli exchanged looks of worry, anger, confusion and disbelief. This was not like Kira at all.

"maybe it's something else. Maybe there's another reason for this. There has to be. I can't believe he's cheating on you. He loves you."

"I wish, I truly wish he still does." Lacus said with a distant look in her eyes.

"Please sir! Can you help me?" A young brunette coordinator asked.

"We're doing all we can, Mr. Yamato. That's all I can promise you right now."

"But-"

"Sir, you must be patient. The circumstances, and the experiment itself, is quite amazing! It'll take time for us to work on it. Under normal circumstances, it would have already been called impossible!" Consider yourself lucky!"

"It's not just an experiment!" yelled the brunette, apparently offended.

"I'm sorry sir."

"How about…?

"The other one? Oh, that one's fine. Under observation." The older man said confidently, having found something to be proud of amidst all the failure lately.

"Stop referring to them as objects, doctor. They're not. THEY'RE NOT!"

"Again, I'm sorry."

"When can I see her again?" said Kira, a little more calmly.

"Actually, anytime. She misses you."

"Thank you! I can't wait all of us to be together again." With this, the brunette ran toward a small, cheerfully furnished room at the end of the dark corridor. The doctor sighed. A colleague of his whispered to him.

"Do you think this is wise?"

"I don't know, but this is what he wants." Answered the first doctor.

"Shame about the other one though, she won't be happy."

"Who? Fiona?"

"No."

"Who then?"

"Lacus. Lacus Clyne…when she finds out…"

"Poor child…."


	2. A little snooping goes a long way

Wow, I hadn't updated for a while, so I'm making this a good one…hopefully.

* * *

Luckily, the blue haired coordinator was able to grab her wrist in time. Otherwise, she would have a taken a fairly bad stumble down the stairs and ultimately ruined the whole _'secret'_ part of the job. The blonde held her hand to her mouth to prevent a yelp from escaping. All the excitement she'd just seen made her step back and lose her footwork on the stairs. Once she'd regained her composure, she gave her partner in crime a grave look.

"Boy, was Lacus far off."

"Not entirely…"

Stealthily edging the walls, he motioned her to follow him as they quietly made their way down a the bleached white halls.

"Where are you going? We have enough."

"I want to see…"

"Are you insane? Not only are we sure to get caught, Kira will never forgive us!"

"Well if he's hurting Lacus, I'll never forgive him."

"Get real, Athrun! We're in a bio lab! Do you really expect him to be fooling around _here_?"

"Anything's possible." The coordinator shrugged.

"You saw it. It's just work… freaky…but work."

The blue haired boy looked over his shoulder at his wife, who was creeping up behind him and rolled his eyes.

"Kira is a pilot, Cagalli. He's a professional mechanic, far from a genetic engineer. He _has_ no business here."

"You're forgetting. He's also a coordinator, the perfect coordinator, for that matter. I'd say that gives him reason."

"How can you be defending him? You're not even sure! All you saw was an incubation tube!"

"…and that's enough! Really, Athrun, I feel like a ten year old sneaking cookies from my father. I can't do this anymore. I don't see the point."

They reached a small lounge by a stair landing. Athrun took a deep breath. He looked at the blonde's big golden eyes and gave her a little peck on the forehead.

"Alright, go home. Get some rest."

"I'm not letting you do this alone!"

"I'll be fine. I need to get through this, Cagalli. Lacus still is a good friend of mine."

"…so is Kira."

"Go on…"

When she disappeared down the stairs, he went on the direction he believed he saw his best friend's figure went.

It led him to a tall wooden door, different from all the steels ones that lined the last dozen hallways he passed.

He heard footsteps.

Remembering his training from ZAFT, he waited at the corner until he heard the steps fade away. When whoever it was, was gone, he crept up to the unique door. It was partly open and he could hear two female voices from the other side. One was definitely a child.

The former Justice pilot spotted an adjoining door further down the hall and slipped in there. He had gone into what looked like a nursery, painted soft pastel colors and furnished with fine mahogany and toy lying around, not typically a room you'd find in a genetics lab.

Athrun followed the voices he heard. In what looked like the bedroom section of the suite, he saw, indeed, two girls. One was a middle aged woman with bright red hair, too bright to be natural, he thought, probably dyed to cover the grays, he guessed. The other, sure enough, was a little girl. Her back was towards her but he could see she had pale skin from her arms. The old woman was brushing her long fuchsia hair.

The blue haired boy sweatdropped.

He quickly, but quietly slipped out of the room and returned to the lounge where he'd last seen Cagalli. Panting, he snatched out his cell phone and dialed a number he didn't normally call.

"Hello? Can is this Mr. Argile?"

There was a worried "Yes." from the other side.

"Sai! It's Athrun. I need you to meet me in from of the Heliopolis Genetic Research Facility."

"What? Why? Athrun, I'm at work."

"It's very important, Sai. It's about _her_." The Justice pilot said as if it meant something.

"What the hell do you mean?!" The person on the other end started to sound interested.

"Just come…I think…I think I just saw her…"

The line hung up.

Athrun proceeded out the building where he arranged to meet the old friend.

* * *

**Later…**

It was late and she was still alone in her room in the twenty story condominium. The sky had already gone from pale blue to orange to inky black in front of her. She stood a glass of wine in hand, on the balcony of her bedroom. Diamond littered the night sky. Dim lights from the city sparkled in the distance.

She watched and waited for a familiar silver car to pull up at the lobby and for her beloved brunette to step out of the driver's seat and hand the keys to the guard. Actually, she'd been waiting since about 6 o' clock when he should have gotten out of work.

Time check: 10:30 pm

Those bright headlights and that silver car didn't come anywhere near in sight.

She was tired and tired of it all. The songstress had given up. She went to her bed, rest her head on a pillow and lay there, perfectly still, starring at the ceiling, wishing it'd collapse on her.

* * *

He put his key through the doorknob and quietly opened the door. The brown haired coordinator made sure not to stir anything. Lacus was probably asleep by now. He passed by the dining room where he saw two places still neatly set.

"She didn't eat dinner…" The thought brushed by his mind but her shrugged it off as unimportant.

He found her in their room, peacefully resting. Kira walked up to the sleeping figure. She was in a silk periwinkle robe. The songstress wasn't in her normal sleeping position. Instead of hugging a pillow to one side of the bed, her arms an legs were spread out and her rose hair was a mess above her head. She had an empty wine glass in her hand.

"Lacus doesn't drink…" It suddenly came to mind.

The boy took the glass out of her fingers a placed it safely on the night table. Kira sat at her bedside and brushed her hair off her face. He sat and watched her sleep for a few moments. She was as sweet and calm as always. This was Lacus Clyne, whose voice had enchanted the PLANTS during their grimmest days. He smiled. This was Lacus Clyne, his girl.

He sat there for eons, deep in thought. So many things had been busying him lately yet strangely he was calm. He didn't want to have it any other way. While starring at his girlfriend sleeping, he pondered on the things that had happened to him in the past. He especially thought of his day and months in the archangel and the days he still piloted the Strike. More importantly he pondered on his life now…and what he was doing.

Still deep in his thoughts, he leaned over and kissed the girl on the bed lightly on the cheek. He whispered.

"Good night, Fiona. Sweet dreams."

* * *

While the brunette was in the shower and getting changed, the young woman lying on their bed in that grand master bedroom wept silently, being careful to wipe away her tears and resume her act of unconsciousness before he came back.

Kira Yamato slept beside her that night, his heart and mind at peace and dreaming good dreams.

The beautiful maiden that lay beside him had monsters creeping up at the back of her mind, gripping her heart and taking over all her naïve beliefs and her sense of good in the world.


	3. From mistaken and truths

I was able to update so soon! Ha!

* * *

That morning, Kira didn't leave. In fact, he stayed in bed much later than Lacus.

The songstress had crept into the room to watch the boy sleep for a while. She remembered what had happened a couple of nights ago, when he called her by a name that wasn't hers. Yes, whoever this "Fiona" as, yes that was her name, Lacus envied her.

She had Kira's heart and his loyalty, two things Lacus wasn't exactly sure when she'd lost.

Since that night Lacus had taken good care to sleep early. She also slept in the guest room and she always locked the door when she slept. She would rather not see him at all than have that happen again. She would rather just not know.

Lacus stayed by the door, afraid to come near him. She didn't come near him anymore. They rarely even talked.

From afar, she eyed him head to toe. He was lying on his back on top of the covers. He looked tired. Stray strands lay on his forehead and over his eyes. From where she stood she could see the rise and fall of his chest.

The songstress left the room before tears started streaming down her eyes. She saw him stir. Kira might wake up.

Soon he did come down to breakfast. The pink haired girl was already sitting at the table, waiting for him.

"Good morning." He greeted.

"Hello." She murmured, not looking at him. She pretended to play with a couple of her Haros.

They ate in that same awkward silence until the girl decided to point out.

"You stayed home today."

"mmm hmm." He nodded. He could only mumble with a large piece of toast still in his mouth. His puffy face made Lacus giggle and it lightened the moment… a bit. "Did you forget? It's Dearka and Milly's engagement party today."

"Oh that's right."

A casual conversation about a normal topic would do both of them good.

"This will be the most talked about Natural-Coordinator wedding since Athrun and Cagalli's." Kira pointed out.

Lacus simply nodded and smiled politely.

They ate in complete silence again. You could almost hear the crickets.

"Lacus?"

"Yes?"

"This place seems so empty with just the two of us, doesn't it?"

"Umm, I guess so." She didn't know where this was going.

"I mean, it's too big for just two people."

Keeping in mind that it was only a three bedroom condominium with it the kitchen and the dining room adjoined, Lacus was confused but she just nodded politely. "Uh huh."

"I wish it'd liven up."

"Me too." She smiled politely, still puzzled.

* * *

Also having breakfast was another couple. Joining them was a blonde boy with rose tinted glasses.

"I haven't seen you in a long time, Sai. How's it been?"

"Pretty good. I still work for the military so I'm pretty well off."

"Good." The blonde girl smiled. "Now, the real question…" She eyed the natural sitting across from her and then her gaze shifted to the blue haired man sitting beside her. "What the deal on Kira?"

"You're certainly not making an effort to be subtle." Athrun scoffed.

She gave him a mean look. "Spill."

The two men just looked at each other then Sai was the one who finally spoke.

"Don't you think Lacus should be the first to know?"

"She might not take it well."

"How does telling you help then?" Athrun pointed out.

"I'll break whatever news it is to her better than you would."

"Right…" The blue haired boy raised an eyebrow.

"You'll find out soon enough Cagalli." Sai assured. "I'll tell you this much, it certainly isn't anything we expected." He shifted uncomfortably.

Cagalli sighed. "When are you gong to tell her then, tonight?"

"Maybe."

The blonde rolled her eyes. There was definitely going to be drama.

The two men stood up. They excused themselves, saying they had some last minute work to do before the party tonight. Athrun bid his wife goodbye and Sai waved to his friend.

Athrun got into the passenger seat.

"Where to?" Sai joked.

"You know where." Athrun replied flatly.

"Fine."

They drove off.

"Do you think she's ready for this?"

"I don't know."

"Do you really think we have the right to tell her?"

"No, we don't. In fact we won't."

"Then what—"

"Kira will."

Sai gave an exasperated sigh. If he wasn't on the wheel, he would have thrown his arms up in frustration.

There _WILL_ be drama.


	4. Internal conflict

Yet another miraculously fast update… I'm on a role!

* * *

He gripped the stirring wheel tightly. Kira stepped on the gas pedal and blindly turned the sharp corner. His hands and feet knew where to go. His mind was elsewhere.

**Flashback**

"_Kira! You have to come quick!" _

_  
"Why, Athrun? What's the matter?"_

"_It's Lacus. Cagalli and I had just arrived and she isn't here."_

"_Well, maybe she's out." He suggested, convinced it was nothing._

"_No, Kira. You don't understand. She…She left a note."_

"_Well then, what does it say?"_

"_Do you really want to hear this over the phone? You _have_ to come and read this for yourself…"_

**End Flashback**

His head was racing faster than his car. Ever turn he had to make reminded him of how he could be too late.

'How stupid could she be?' He thought. 'How stupid could _I_ have been?"

When he finally arrived, the children came out rushing to him. They came shouting cheerful greetings of "Big brother Kira! It's Kira!" The little ones were shocked and heartbroken she he pushed passed them and ran to the nearby cliff.

At the highest point, he found the songstress. She was lying on her back, eyes closed and tearstained, blood still oozing out of her wrists fast.

Athrun and Cagalli arrived only moments earlier. They had to assure the old lady running the orphanage and the children that "big brother Kira's" behavior was because of stress. The lady told them that Lady Lacus had visited earlier this morning but that she too acted strange and they hadn't seen her since.

The two newcomers found Kira at the edge of the cliff, cradling the songstress' no longer breathing body.

"Kira…" Athrun placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, lost for any better words.

"It's not too late." Cagalli observed, holding back sobs. "The cut's still fresh and…" her efforts to stop the tears were being overpowered. She touched her friend's neck. "Yes, she still has a faint pulse." She looked over at her other friend, who was in pieces beside her body. "We can still save her, Kira but we need to bring her help _now_."

Too broken to move, Kira just sat and starred as Athrun took Lacus from his arms and carried her down the mountain. His sister guided him down the mountain behind her husband and friend.

The caretakers had to shield the children's eyes as the party of four came down, one of them being a half dead body still dripping fresh blood.

* * *

**Flashback**

"_Well then, who is it?" the pink haired songstress pleaded before her ex-fiancé._

_They were at the engagement part but they were away from all the excitement. She, Athrun, Sai and Cagalli had locked themselves in a sitting room to finally speak about this very pressing matters._

"_The thing is, Lacus…" Sai stuttered_

"_We didn't come to tell you what he's been doing. I think that's for him to say." Athrun continued for him. "We just wanted to reassure you for the meantime."_

"_Reassure me of what?! I already know her name! It's Fiona! I know, he said her name. He called _me_ her name. Who is she, Athrun? Who is she?" Lacus was in tears, practically kneeling on the floor._

"_No. Lacus. No. It's not." Sai continued to stutter._

"_He's not cheating." Athrun said firmly._

"_And you expect me to belief that?!" The songstress yelled before storming out of the room._

**End of Flashback**

* * *

"She's already lost a lot of blood but we can replace it. We treat the artery she cut but when she wakes up, I'm afraid they'll still be some complications." The doctor informed them grimly in the waiting room outside the OR.

"What? What kind of complications?" Kira pressed.

"Her suicide attempt seemed to have been fueled by an extreme level of depression, sir. What has this girl been through to bring to such a bad state?"

None of them answered.

"Whatever it is, I advise you to keep her away from it or deal with it as soon as possible. This is very serious."

Athrun kept his head low while Cagalli just looked at her twin brother who simply just nodded.

"But—will she get better?" He inquired.

"That all depends on her and the circumstances, I'm afraid." The doctor told them grimly. "I can prescribe her proper medication and recommend a good psychologist once she's awake and we've observed her. The rest is up to how she takes it."

With that, he headed back towards the emergency room, leaving the three alone.

"Kira, I don't want to point fingers but—" Cagalli started.

"Then don't." The brunette snapped.

But that didn't stop her. "You should have told her what you were up to. If you really weren't doing anything wrong, there wasn't a need to keep it a secret. Maybe she wouldn't have worried herself so much."

"I only wanted it to be a secret." He defended.

"Things like that weren't meant to be surprises, Kira."

"I thought she'd be happy for me."

"She probably would have been, if you hadn't acted so—"

"Incriminating." Athrun finished for her. The blue haired coordinator had been silent since they arrived at the hospital, until now.

" I never doubted you loved her." The Justice pilot went on. "but I do admit eve I was suspicious. You called her 'Fiona' for goodness sake! What was she supposed to think?! What were we supposed to believe?!"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry already! I never meant for anything like this." The brunette sobbed.

"We know you didn't." his sister comforted him, putting a hand on his back.

* * *

Lacus was transferred to a private room. Sai and the others rushed over as soon as they heard. Kira had a lot of explaining to do that day.

A it was getting late, They started to leave one by one. Athrun and Cagalli were the last to bid him goodbye.

Kira was left alone it the white washed room sitting by the unconscious songstress' bedside. Both their eyes were tear stained but hers weren't open.

"I'm so sorry Lacus." He whispered. "I just wanted to be together as a family. I know if you would meet them, you'd make a wonderful mother."

He fell asleep sitting down, his head rested on her lap and his hand tightly clasped around hers.


End file.
